Gambling Commission Publishes Third GSGB Annual Report with Three Years of Trend Data

The Gambling Commission has released the third annual report from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain covering data collected throughout 2025 and based on responses from 20,775 adults, which marks the first occasion that three comparable years of trend data exist for official statistics on participation, behaviours, attitudes and problem gambling prevalence.

Problem gambling rates measured by a PGSI score of 8 or higher remained at 2.4 percent, matching the level recorded in the two previous years and providing researchers with a stable baseline for monitoring changes over time, while the survey itself continues to be delivered by the National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with the University of Glasgow.

Data collection for the 2025 report followed the established GSGB protocol that combines probability sampling with detailed questionnaires on gambling activities, frequency of play, spending patterns and attitudes toward regulation, allowing analysts to track shifts across demographic groups and different forms of gambling without relying on self-selecting panels.

The sample size of 20,775 adults exceeds the threshold required for reliable national estimates and enables breakdowns by age, gender, region and gambling type, while the consistent methodology across the three survey years supports direct comparison of key indicators such as overall participation rates and the distribution of PGSI scores.

Figures reveal that nearly half of adults in Great Britain reported some form of gambling activity in the past year, with the most common activities remaining national lottery draws, scratchcards and online casino games, while frequency data show that the majority of participants engage on a monthly or less frequent basis rather than weekly or daily.

Attitude questions included in the survey capture views on advertising exposure, perceived risks and support for responsible gambling tools, and responses indicate that awareness of self-exclusion schemes and deposit limits has increased steadily across the three-year period covered by the report.

The headline statistic of 2.4 percent problem gambling prevalence measured by PGSI 8+ has now been recorded in each of the three annual waves, which gives statisticians the ability to examine whether subgroups such as younger adults or those playing multiple gambling formats show different trajectories compared with the overall population average.

Additional PGSI categories for moderate risk and low risk gambling also appear in the report, allowing a fuller picture of the distribution of gambling-related harms across the adult population and providing context for the stable problem gambling rate that has persisted since the survey began producing comparable data.

Researchers note that the availability of three years of trend data strengthens the capacity to detect future changes, because year-on-year fluctuations can now be assessed against an established baseline rather than relying on single-point estimates that may reflect sampling variation.

The National Centre for Social Research led fieldwork and data processing while the University of Glasgow contributed to questionnaire design and statistical analysis, and the resulting dataset has been deposited with the UK Data Service to enable secondary research by academics and policy organisations.

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (Annual Report 2025) – Official Statistics document contains full tables, methodological notes and confidence intervals, ensuring transparency and reproducibility for anyone examining teh underlying figures.

Release of the third annual GSGB report supplies regulators, treatment providers and researchers with an additional year of consistent national data at a time when three-year trends first become available, and the steady 2.4 percent problem gambling rate supplies a clear reference point for evaluating the impact of future policy interventions or industry changes.

Continued delivery of the survey by the established partnership between the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Glasgow maintains methodological continuity that supports long-term monitoring of gambling participation and harms across Great Britain.